Loveland's Anthology Book Co. gets new lease on life (updated, video added)

LOVELAND -- Anthology Book Co. had a near-death experience, but someone came along and gave it CPR.

That someone is Raul Cruz, owner of 3 Coffee, a coffee shop and roastery in Milliken.

The owners of longtime downtown Loveland bookstore and coffee shop Anthology announced in February that they would be closing May 15.

But on Thursday, they said the business at 422 E. Fourth St. had been given a new lease on life by a brand-new partnership with Cruz.

"It is exciting, and it is all happening rather quickly," said Stephanie Stauder, who has owned Anthology with her husband, Mark, for the past 10 years.

Cruz said he will move his coffee roaster from Milliken to Anthology and supply the store with 3 Coffee's products and more. At the same time, he's teaming up with a new wine and cheese bar in downtown Greeley to open a new 3 Coffee location there.

"Our plan is to bring our ethos into Anthology and merge it with what Steph has beautifully done the past 10 years," he said.

Stephanie Stauder, co-owner of Anthology Book Co., poses for a photo with Raul Cruz, left, owner of 3 Coffee & Roastery in Milliken, and Andrew Webb, employee of 3 Coffee, on Thursday, April 25, 2013. Stauder said, "I'm having my cake and eating it too," remarking on how happy she is to have Anthology stay open after forming a partnership with Cruz. Webb's baby, 5 month-old Adler, sits on the counter. (Jenny Sparks)

That ethos, as Cruz described it, is to provide artisanal coffee in a place where people connect and creativity is celebrated.

A 'Third Place'

"Specifically, it's the kind of place where the people who are there know your name," he said. "It's where the regulars hang out, where people converse, where ideas are exchanged."

He said 3 Coffee has provided that kind of unhurried atmosphere in Milliken since June 2011. "At 3 Coffee Milliken, we don't even have a clock on the wall. There's a reason for that."

Cruz uses the book "The Great Good Place" by sociologist Ray Oldenburg as his inspiration, and the source of his shop's name.

Oldenburg said Americans have become isolated as they travel back and forth between their first places - home - and their second places - work. They need a "third place," Oldenburg said, where they can gather and establish relationships.

"That's very much the kind of place that she's started here," Cruz said.

Many of the details of what the new Anthology will look like still need to be worked out, Cruz and Stauder said, but a few are settled.

The store will be called Anthology Book Co. Powered by 3 Coffee & Roastery, and Cruz will bring in the husband-wife team of Andrew and Jenn Webb to manage it alongside Stauder. But Cruz won't be a co-owner, he said.

The café will start selling breakfast and lunch again and continue to serve beer and wine. Cruz said he plans to "kick-start" the music scene at Anthology, too.

The store has started closing on Sundays and will keep that schedule for the time being, Stauder said. It will honor book trade-in credits and gift cards until May 15, she said, and then decide how to proceed.

Craft Coffee Culture

Cruz said the coffee culture will change.

"We have adopted what is called the third wave of coffee," he said. "Rather than treating coffee as a commodity, we treat it as an artisan food.

"We're helping people taste coffee, learn about coffee," he explained. "But we're not hoity-toity or snooty. We take the artisan coffee and talk about it in everyday language. That makes us a craft coffee shop."

He said 3 Coffee buys coffee only from direct relationship sources - farmers with whom his supplier has personal contact. It's considered even fairer to the farmers than fair trade coffee, he said.

Courage to Start Anew

Stauder laughed at Cruz's analogy of a near-death experience. "I was feeling pretty lifeless and waiting for someone to come along and cart my body away," she said.

After she announced Anthology's impending demise, she was flooded with comments from people who told her how important her store was to them and to the community.

"I've likened it in a way to being able to attend our own funeral," she said. "I have pages and pages of letters to me and comments from customers.

"That gave me the courage to be able to dive back in and give it another shot," she said. She's hoping those emotional expressions of support will translate into financial support of the store, which had suffered declining book sales since 2008.

The other reason she gave for closing - a desire to spend more time with her three young children - should be alleviated by the presence of 3 Coffee, Stauder said.

"It's lonely being a business owner," she said. "There's a sigh of relief in knowing that I have some amazing people to share that with now."

Andrew Webb plays with his 5-month-old baby, Adler, in the children's book section of Anthology Book Co. in downtown Loveland on Thursday, April 25, 2013. Webb and his wife, Jenn Webb, will manage the store, renamed Anthology Book Co. Powered by 3 Coffee & Roastery, after the bookstore's owners formed a partnership with 3 Coffee of Milliken.
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Jenny Sparks
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